This strip came together Sunday at Wizard world after Mitch (The sad figure in the last panel and creator of many great comics) wanted to know why he wasn’t going to be in the strip for Talladega Nights. You see it’s common practice with JLCM that I will often include in the strip whomever I saw the movie with. Last year I went as far as to do a special strip to document the web comic groups trip to see Sky High.

I couldn’t say for sure why I didn’t include everyone in the comic this year, I think I just wanted a simple idea and it became a situation where I could go with what I felt was funny or try to manipulate that joke to fit a group environment. Honestly after being gone so long I was just anxious to get some stuff down and hit the ground running. So Mitch saw me penciling the Talladega strip and joked “I wouldn’t have seen the movie with you if I knew you weren’t going to put me in it.�

Even though he was obviously kidding around, I felt bad. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s fun. I didn’t know it was THAT expected. Earlier that day I was talking with west coast comic friends Corey and Todd from Young American Comics (Corey’s new strip Scene Language is kicking all kinds of ass, by the way) and they wanted nothing to do with the Will Ferrell movie but debated going to see it for the chance of appearing in the strip. That’s kind of cool. I just should have put everyone in the damn thing. Next year for sure.

With that I thought this little strip featuring my misinterpretation of the situation would be fun. But it’s clearly not true because as we all know – Mitch Clem does not and cannot cry. My theory – he’s a robot. But I’ll leave it up to you to decide for yourself.

It was really a great show though. Nice crowd, good company. My only real beef is that there was never enough time. There’s this whole nightlife of the show and I find myself getting burned out fast. It was still a lot of fun though. We were all joined by Eric from Radioactive Panda and some of the Think Tank crew for a book release party on Saturday. The two books in question are Theater Hopper: Year One and Joe and Monkey: The Definition of Awesome. Both were selling hand over fist which made me really want to get a JLCM collection together. I’m just not at that level yet though. Someday. One of the coolest things at the show for me was the Jam comics we worked on, which I’ve slowly been revealing over the past week. For those of you who don’t know, a jam comic is basically a pass along comic. One artist will draw a single panel, pass it to the next person who will do the same and so on. After 6 artists have done a panel each, you have a lovely little, completely disturbing, story. Here is the finished set of 1, 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5

And of course these were done by Tom, Gordon, Zach, Mitch, Kevin, Phil, Irv, and myself. If you liked the jams be sure to check out everyone’s sites and let them know. If you were offended in anyway – it was Irv’s idea.

Speaking of Mitch Clem, for the past couple of weeks he’s been telling Wizard World Chicago related stories in his comic San Antonio Rock City. It’s normally an awesome strip (though I’m missing the boob jokes), but the Wizard world stuff is extra awesome. Partially because I appeared in Tuesday’s strip! Actually I’ll be doing a couple of guest spots later in the week so be sure to bookmark the strip and read it always. ALWAYS.

The best part of the show really was meeting the readers. I know that sounds lame but the fact that someone came up to me in the first 15 minutes of the show and asked me to draw Jesutron was a really good feeling. Everyone I talked to was genuinely excited about the strip and that makes me feel fantastic. Thanks guys, it seriously meant a lot.

That’s all I have to say about Chicago but before I go I wanted to remind you guys that your voice is important! No I’m not going to give an inspirational speech about inner power, I’m talking about your votes having an affect on what comics and reviews are written.

Earlier this month I announced the next series of the 10 on the 10th (a series where I list my top 10 in a category and have the readers vote on which of the 10 gets the focus of the comic/review). The category for Septmebr is top 10 snakes. Be sure to get in there and have your voice heard. So far the Garbage monster from New Hope is winning out. I can’t believe no one is voting for the Leech on Wil Wheaton’s balls in Stand By Me. Earlier today I added a new subject for the reader’s to have input on.

I'm a huge fan of the Broken Lizard films and thought that the release of [b]Broken Lizard's Beerfest[/b] presented an opportunity to continue the fun. I'm going to do a comic and review on one of Broken Lizard's previous films the day before Beerfest comes out. Which DVD I review is up to you! I'll put it up to a vote and the Monday before Beerfest comes out I'll announce the winner, and have the comic/review up that Thursday. So which is your favorite?

Puddle Cruiser the college love story.

Super Troopers the cult hit.

Club Dread the comedy slasher. or

Dukes of Hazzard the big budget non BL film.

You can head on over to this thread to have your say. Right now Super Troopers is kicking ass. Not a huge surprise. It’s a cult hit for a reason. But I’m secretly hoping the Club Dread die-hards will come out of hiding and give it a run for its money. As it stands Yeo and I are the only ones to have voted for it so far. And to answer your question – no, I don’t think that’s sad.

I’m giving you guys the power because it’s important to me that you feel involved with the strip. So check it out and speak your mind. Take it sleazy.